mardi 11 septembre 2007

COMPENSATIONS - ARE THE TURKMENS BEING LEFT OUT AGAIN?

The 'Iraqi government' allocates millions of Iraqi dinars to compensate 'displaced' Arabs and Kurds, but what about the displaced Turkmens ?

During the 1980s thousands of Turkmens were evicted from their properties and agricultural lands (in the north of Iraq) by the Ba'ath regime which brought in Arabs from the south of Iraq and settled them in the houses and lands belonging to the unjustly displaced Turkmens. These Arabs also received financial incentives from the Iraqi government to move to the north of Iraq.Today, the 'Iraqi government' is giving 20 million Iraqi dinars + a plot of land to each Arab family who accepts to move back to the region they originally came from.Meanwhile thousands of Turkmen families who were unjustly evicted and displaced under the Arabization programme of the Ba'ath regime are still waiting to be compensated for their losses.

It is high time for the 'Iraqi government' to return the confiscated Turkmen properties and agricultural lands to their rightful Turkmen owners and to FULLY compensate the Turkmens for all their losses.-------------------------Kerkuk (VOI)10 Sept 2007--

Nermin Othman, the Minister of Environment and the official in charge of financial affairs in the High Committee on the application of article 140 of the constitution declared during a press conference in Erbil on Sunday: " The Iraqi government allocated 200 million dollars as compensations for Arabs in Kerkuk who wish to return to their orginal provinces"...She said: "We offered the budget for the year 2008 because we believe that disbursing those compensations would not end this year".

Othman said she signed hundreds of cheques for a total value of 6 million dollars on Sunday as compensations for the Arabs returning from Kerkuk to their original areas

Othman further declared:

"Each Arab family wishing to return to its original province would get 20 million Iraqi dinars (roughly US$16,000) with a plot of land in the city to which it would go and will have the right to sell their property in Kerkuk and other disputed areas".

"The displaced Kurds wishing to return to Kerkuk would have 10 million Iraqi dinars (roughly US$8,000) per family".

The Minister said that she does not have an accurate number of the Arabs residing in Kerkuk and willing to return to their original provinces.